Chapter 103 Yi'er, Shyly Nestled in My Arms

“This is the Prince of Qin’s residence; who would know?” Yuan Yan continued to plead his case.

Seeing that Yang Lingyi could no longer resist, her face turned bright red.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Your Highness?" Che Ju came to report something.

Upon hearing the sound, Yang Lingyi trembled slightly, and her hazy eyes snapped back to reality.

Seeing someone outside the door, he ignored Yuan Yan's attempts to stop him and immediately got out of her arms.

Biting her lip, too embarrassed to speak, she even forgot to take her food box and quickly left through another door with a flushed face.

Yuan Yan: "..."

She missed her chance, and Yi'er slipped away like a little fish.

The system couldn't help but laugh out loud: [Hahaha, host, this is the first time I've seen you so embarrassed...]

"Shut up, don't you understand 'don't look at what you shouldn't'?" Yuan Yan said irritably.

So when Che Ju came in from behind, she saw that her prince had a dark face and was obviously under a lot of pressure. When she reported, she couldn't help but worry that she might have said something wrong, and she was a little uneasy.

Under pressure from Yuan Yan, Che Ju finished reporting the matter and finally withdrew. He felt that in just a short while, he had already broken out in a sweat.

"Your Highness's power and influence are growing ever stronger," Che Ju remarked.

...

When Shen Lianzhou entered the room, Yuan Yan was leaning back and taking a short nap with his eyes closed.

Your Highness must be exhausted after working for so long.

Thinking this, Shen Lianzhou slowed her steps and tried to grab a quilt from the side to cover Yuan Yan.

But as soon as she reached Yuan Yan's side, she slowly opened her eyes.

“Lianzhou.” Yuan Yan looked at him, a faint smile in his eyes.

"Your Highness is tired, why don't you go to bed?" Shen Lianzhou looked at her in surprise and asked gently.

Yuan Yan: "I'm not tired, it's just that I've been staying in the courtyard these past few days without going out, so I'm a little bored."

To avoid attracting attention, she has been staying in the courtyard most of the time and rarely goes out.

Although Yang Lingyi and Shen Lianzhou took turns looking after Yuan Yan, they were both busy, dealing with the sudden increase in affairs at the Prince's residence due to Yuan Yan's awakening during the day. The time they could spend with Yuan Yan was not long; in fact, they were spending more time together than before.

Upon hearing this, Shen Lianzhou immediately thought of Yuan Yan's condition over the past few days and felt a pang of heartache.

"How about... you move into the east room tomorrow?"

Shen Lianzhou thought for a moment, "Being closer to His Highness will allow me to spend more time talking with him."

He planned to ask Yang Lingyi if he could move his own residence there. Although this would make it a bit more troublesome for the servants to handle things, it would allow him to spend more time with Yuan Yan.

"Lianzhou has already worked so hard, how could I bear to let you work so hard?" Yuan Yan shook his head and refused.

Ignoring what Shen Lianzhou might say, she pulled him down onto the couch.

"Zhou'er must be tired after a long day. Lie down with me for a while."

Yuan Yan, like a big tiger, held Shen Lianzhou in his arms without giving him a chance to refuse, and said lazily while hugging him.

Shen Lianzhou originally wanted to say that he wasn't tired. But when Yuan Yan held him like that and he felt her warm embrace, he immediately stopped talking, and his mind, which had been focused on continuing to work, gradually relaxed.

"Your Highness, there is one more thing..." Shen Lianzhou's voice became a little dull, carrying a hint of weariness.

Yuan Yan patted his back and gently interrupted Shen Lianzhou.

"Shh, go to sleep. We can think about the rest tomorrow."

In a few days at most, someone will eventually get restless, and this situation should end soon.

The two embraced and gradually drifted off to sleep.

...

The next day.

A servant reported that a special guest had come to see Yuan Yan.

"Didn't His Majesty issue an edict forbidding officials from visiting His Highness, allowing him to focus on recovering? No one outside the residence is to be seen. Why bother His Highness with such matters?"

Shen Lianzhou, who was next to Yuan Yan, overheard this and was somewhat displeased. She frowned and reprimanded the servant.

"Please forgive me, Master."

The servants assumed the man was someone of special status and produced a palace token. Seeing this, the gatekeepers dared not act on their own and instead came to report.

"Oh? A token from the palace."

Behind the screen, Yuan Yan rested his head on Shen Lianzhou's lap, raising an eyebrow slightly, "Bring it here for me to see."

The male servant took the token from the servant, went behind the screen, and presented it to Yuan Yan.

After Yuan Yan saw the token clearly, he couldn't help but laugh, leaving the system completely confused.

[Host, whose token is this?]

[You're just looking at the token, why are you laughing out loud...] It really doesn't understand Yuan Yan's thought process.

“This belongs to my sixth imperial sister.” Yuan Yan turned the token over, smiled as he looked at the intricate phoenix patterns on it, and replied to the system.

"She didn't come to me earlier or later, but of all times, she came running over after Yuan Jing had silenced her. Desperate times call for desperate measures. I don't know who gave her this idea. Isn't it hilarious?"

[Ah, host, I don't understand... Aren't you recovering from your injuries right now? What does the Sixth Princess want with you?] The system scratched its head, somewhat puzzled.

"What can she do in her current condition?"

Yuan Yan weighed the token in his hand and said casually, "It's nothing more than that he was scared by Yuan Jing and thought of me, his 'seriously injured' good sister, and wanted to drag me into dealing with Yuan Jing."

In Yuan Wen's eyes, Yuan Jing had repeatedly taken action during Yuan Yan's serious injury, attempting to transfer Yuan Yan's trusted officials and doing a series of things to suppress Yuan Yan. Yuan Yan must have hated Yuan Jing to the core.

Just then, she too was being suffocated by Yuan Jing. Reminded by her disciples, she thought of Yuan Yan.

Yuan Yan's reputation was growing, and he had also distinguished himself in battle, posing an increasing threat to Yuan Jing. If he hadn't been injured in the assassination attempt, the political situation in the court would likely have changed long ago.

If she could win over Yuan Yan to join forces against Yuan Jing, how could she tolerate Yuan Jing's domineering behavior?

Yuan Wen had a beautiful plan: to hide behind Yuan Yan, incite fierce fighting between her two elder sisters, Yuan Yan and Yuan Jing, and use the opportunity to regroup and strengthen her own power.

Little did she know that her current situation was orchestrated by Yuan Yan behind the scenes, so why would he be willing to help her?

Shen Lianzhou didn't see the token clearly, but she saw Yuan Yan fiddling with it for several breaths without saying a word. Not knowing if the visitor was important, she asked.

"Your Highness... shall we let that person in?"

“No need,” Yuan Yan said.

She said to her servants, "Return the token to that person and tell her that I am too badly injured to see any guests. No one is exempt. Let her come back in a few days."

As for exactly when this "some time" will be, that depends on Yuan Yan's mood.

The servant acknowledged the order and withdrew.

Yuan Wen and the others were waiting outside the Prince's Mansion. When they saw the servants come out, they were about to walk inside.

"So, has your master agreed to see me?"

But the servants stopped her, saying, "My lady, the Prince of Qin's residence is not receiving guests today."

Yuan Wen was surprised to be stopped and her eyes widened in astonishment.

"How could that be? Did you present the token to my elder sister? If my second elder sister saw the token, she would not refuse to see me."

In her haste, Yuan Wen even forgot that she had concealed her identity and couldn't help but question her servants.

Upon hearing Yuan Wen's words, the servants became more respectful, but did not change their actions.

“Your Highness, it’s not that my master refuses to see you, but he is seriously injured and his health is really poor. At present, only Minister Wang is managing the entire palace. In the past few days, not only Your Highness, but everyone who has come to visit has made a wasted trip.”

"If Your Highness has something urgent to attend to, please come back in a few days. Perhaps by then, the master's injuries will be better, and he may be able to see Your Highness."

Yuanwen was skeptical upon hearing this.

"Is Second Princess really that badly injured?"

Just as rumored, he couldn't even get out of bed. Yuan Wen processed this information, her mind racing.

However, what's most important to her is how to get through this difficult situation now that her second elder sister, the key to breaking the deadlock, is gone...

Yuan Wen left, her mind preoccupied.

She and her disciples discussed the matter for a long time, but before they could come up with a solution, another major event occurred in the Phoenix Kingdom.

The Wu Kingdom, in alliance with the Liang Kingdom, launched a massive military campaign, pressing in on the border and attacking from both the east and northwest. The Huang Kingdom is in grave danger.

The more critical the moment, the calmer Yuan Hao remained, and he immediately summoned his ministers to discuss countermeasures.

Guo Xinghuai looked worried: "It hasn't been long. Wu Kingdom just lost a major battle and has not yet recovered. Why would they choose to raise troops again at this time?"

"If it were only the Kingdom of Wu, it wouldn't matter. The King of Qin previously defeated the Wu army. If the Kingdom of Wu sends troops again, they would only be a few remnants of defeated soldiers, nothing to worry about."

"But Wu Kingdom has once again become entangled with Liang Kingdom... I wonder how much effort Tuoba Hong expended to persuade Liang Kingdom to send a large army to invade our country."

The answer to this question is not difficult to guess, and it is also related to Yuan Yan.

That day, after Yu'er misled the people in the Dark Pavilion to carry out the assassination, she immediately followed Yuan Yan's advice and quickly retreated to Wu Kingdom, escaping the subsequent investigation and pursuit by Huang Kingdom.

However, the Dark Pavilion assassins who came with him were not so lucky.

Most of them were only a step too late, and were ordered by the enraged Phoenix Emperor to seal off the city and conduct a thorough search, remaining in the Phoenix Kingdom forever.

After this incident, the Dark Pavilion was completely exposed. Its long-accumulated power in the Phoenix Kingdom was wiped out almost overnight.

Emperor Wu's years of hard work were destroyed in an instant. Yu'er led her people back to Wu Kingdom, expecting to be punished by her mother, the Empress.

Unexpectedly, after learning that Yuan Yan was "dead," Emperor Wu was not angry about the loss of the Dark Pavilion. Instead, he praised Yu'er for doing a good job and exempted him from the whipping punishment that had been held up for his previous poor performance. He also gave him a reward.

Yuan Yan is only the Prince of Qin now, yet the Empress Dowager is willing to sacrifice the Dark Pavilion, which she has been planning for many years, to kill her... In the Empress Dowager's heart, is Yuan Yan really that threatening?

Yu'er couldn't help but think.

Judging from his expression, Emperor Wu seemed to have guessed what Yu'er was thinking.

“Yuan Yan is a rare military talent, both brave and resourceful. At the tender age of twenty, she was able to devise a plan to lead troops to repel my army. If she were to become the Phoenix Empress in the future, I fear it wouldn’t be long before I begin to suffer from sleepless nights.”

"Now that we can eliminate her before she has fully grown her power, even if it means sacrificing most of the Dark Pavilion's best fighters, I think it's a worthwhile deal."

Emperor Wu was a discerning judge of character. He recognized Yuan Yan's extraordinary abilities through just a few battles and held her in high regard.

"What a pity. If such a talented girl were my daughter, Tuoba Hong, I would definitely cultivate her greatly and let her show her skills."

"But she happens to be the daughter of Yuan Hao's mother, so for the sake of Wu Kingdom, I had no choice but to kill her."